haven, glenn rhee [2]

ch.5

knots untie

my eyes wondered around at the beautifully decorated walls as we entered the barrington house.

"good gracious, ignatius" abraham breathed out, also glancing around at the place.

"most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces. even the ones that weren't bedrooms" jesus informed, standing in front of us.

my eyes shot to an office door, watching an older man appear from the room, "jesus, you're back... with guests."

"everyone, this is gregory" jesus announced, pointing to the man, "he keeps the trains running around here"

"i'm the boss" gregory corrected, giving us all a wary smile.

rick shifted, training his eyes on the man, "well, i'm rick. we have a community—"

before rick could finish, gregory abruptly cut him off, pointing to the stairs, "why don't y'all get cleaned up, hmm?"

i narrowed my eyes at gregory, unsure why and what he was playing at, "we're fine"

he quickly glanced from me to jesus, shrugging off my words, "jesus will show you where you can't get washed up... it's hard to keep this place clean"

rick have gregory a wary look, hesitating a bit before nodding, "yeah. sure"

"follow me" jesus mumbled, motioning for us to walk up the stairs. glenn gently placed a hand on the small of my back, leading me up the stairs.

"you clean up first. with maggie not here, i need you to talk to him." rick whispered, earning a confused look, "why not you?"

rick shook his head, "i shouldn't... and you should start doing these things"

i gave him a hesitant nod before moving into the washroom.
_____________

i stopped at gregory's office door, taking a deep breath, preparing myself for this conversation.

"gregory" i greeted, sending him a soft smile in an attempt to be nice.

"natalie, right?" he questioned, pointing to where i was. i cringed internally before correcting him, "melanie"

"i was pretty close"

"not really" i mumbled, causing him to grin, standing up from the seat, "she calls them like she sees them. i like that... come in, let's chat"

i nodded, closing the door behind me as i entered the room. my eyes searched the room, admiring the walls filled with bookshelves.

"jesus told me your group saved dr. carson. obviously, a doctor's a rare commodity today, so i want to thank you for being back ours"

i shrugged, taking a seat across from him, "doctors don't seem rare to me... we've had three so far at our community and small correction. my husband saved him."

"oh, well, i'll be sure to thank him too" he started, forcing a smile, "where you live, is it as nice as the hilltop colony?"

i nodded a bit, slightly tilting my head, "it's just different"

"how do you feed everyone? jesus said you had land for gardens but no crops"

"we just started planting" i informed, fiddling with my wedding ring, feeling uncomfortable under his gaze.

"planting what?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, "cucumbers, tomatoes—" before i could finish, he cut me off.

"oh, crops— soy, corn hemp, sorghum"